Title

Authors

Abstract

This study is primarily about the Open Organisations Profile, a questionnaire developed in the United States by Professor Oscar Mink (1991) to assess openness in the workplace and thus assist in decisions on organisational change and development. The Open Organisations Profile was developed as an assessment tool of the Open Organisations theoretical model. The Open Organisations Model offers researchers a lens to assess an organisational system and the system’s ability to adapt to internal and external changes in its environment, while maintaining a sense of unity.

While the Open Organisations Profile has been used extensively in Australia and the United States of America, limited research has examined its psychometric properties. This current set of studies aimed to examine the psychometric qualities of the instrument. The first study examined the reliabilities and factor structure of the Open Organisations Profile. Results indicated that the Open Organisations Profile displayed high internal consistency ranging from r = .80 to r = .95. Furthermore confirmatory factor analysis (CFA) confirmed the theoretical three factor model of unity, internal responsiveness and external responsiveness.

The second study assessed cultural differences and similarities between Australia and American using the profile. The findings suggested that significant differences existed between the countries and also between male and female values across the nine dimensions measured.

The final study examined the relationships between the three higher order factors of openness and customer satisfaction and sales performance. The study found that the three factors of openness had a mediating effect on customer satisfaction and sales performance.

The three studies showed the Open Organisation Profile offers researchers a reasonably reliable and valid instrument for assessing the openness of an organisation and its ability to adapt to internal and external changes in the organisation’s environment. Furthermore, the Open Organisations Profile could be used as guide to the areas that need to be addressed to help the organisation improve service delivery, customer satisfaction and financial return.

Year Manuscript Completed

2007

Subject Category

Business Administration, Management (0454)

Keywords

Organization, Organizational effectiveness, Organizational change

Primary Language of Manuscript

EN

Recommended Citation

Lee Stubbs (2008) Is the open organisations profile a valid and reliable measure of openness in organisations?, PhD, ePublications@bond, Faculty of Humanities and Social Sciences.